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Chynaply1 day ago

It's partly that the structure itself feels sort of inorganic and forced for a fantasy setting to me (progressing through leagues with divisional rankings, pre-season -> season -> playoffs).

But for a few quick, high ROI things that could be changed:  Pre-season/season could use a rename. Narratively, maybe some months have harsh conditions so the guilds spend them preparing for when adventuring is more fruitful. "Divisions" and "leagues" feel very sportsy and could probably be reskinned without a big lift.

A few things that took me out but are more of a lift and might not align with your vision for the game:  Having the division/league progression built around trials that every guild attempts feels sort of artificial to me, like the purpose of adventuring/attempting dungeons is to earn points, rather than points being an abstraction of a more natural purpose. Conversely, the delve rating as a tie-breaker abstracts things that would feel more natural as mechanical consequences - eg: clearing dungeons less efficiently/with more casualties leaving you with decreased capacity for future dungeons and making it easier to fall behind other guilds.

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Bretticus821 day ago

This is genuinely one of the most useful bits of feedback I have had, thank you for taking the time to think it through!

You are right about the sportiness, and it was an easy one to agree with,
So I have already changed it.
"Pre-season" and the season labels are gone, the year now runs through the Mustering, the Roads Open, the Long March and the Reckoning as Deepwinter closes in, exactly the idea of the harsh months being when halls prepare.
The tiers have dropped the "League" skin too and read as places and circles of renown now rather than football divisions.

On the bigger point, I want to be honest about the vision. The league pyramid is deliberate.
At its heart this is a Football Manager for a fantasy guild, and that spine is the thing that makes it what it is.
But your framing lands: the climb should feel like a consequence of protecting the realm and building a name, not like playing fixtures for points.
That is a narrative and presentation job I am taking on for the bigger update, keep the ladder, change what it means.

Your last point is the one I am most excited about.
You are dead right that the delve rating tiebreaker is abstracting something that would feel far better as a real consequence.
The direction I am heading is exactly that: a costly, casualty-heavy clear should bleed your hall so you fall behind because you are genuinely weaker next month, not because a hidden number ranked you.
A lot of the parts are already there (permadeath, injuries, fatigue, rotation), it is about letting falling behind emerge from them.

Really grateful for this. Feedback like yours is a big part of how the game is evolving, and me with it. 

If you decide to frequent the halls again I look forward to what else you might have to say!

Thank you for taking the time to write this out.

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Paul_A_C1 day ago (1 edit)

First off - I'm having a blast playing this.  I really like the concept of FM meets fantasy and am comfortable with the concept of leagues.

All the normal disclaimers - I don't pretend to be a game developer and I'm sure many suggestions could have unintended consequences elsewhere in the game.

If you wanted to make each season's point climb more immersive or realistic an option could be some variant of changing league points to "honour", "glory" or even "popularity" - same principle different name (but distinct from the existing renown for the guild).  The simplest version would (at least to a non-games designer) to multiply the points earned by the delve rating to get a single "honour/glory/popularity" score for each league match.  So say 3 (for success) * 90 DR = 270 or 2.70 overall score.  

If you chose to complicate this then this could be a way of tying all the different systems together - the bulk of the points would still be earned through the league, but participation in the various wars and for successfully carrying out the tavern quests would give a few additional points.  It would give players more incentive to do these side activities and mean they have to balance more the risk / reward of sending adventurers away for tavern quests while maintaining enough strength for the league.

If you wanted to push it even further, then certain traits or equipment could be used to influence the score - a bonus for using a hometown hero in a league, a penalty for a hated or unpopular but powerful monster in the league? Some equipment could give score bonus but with limited other bonus or penalties so balancing best stats with bonus points? (Sponsored equipment that gives gold bonuses if used for a clear but potentially slightly decrease popularity/glory from that run - that might be a little too far?) 

On the renaming front, maybe cup could be renamed the Arena series, Gladiator series; something that emphasises the spirit of the activity, with slightly less direct Football Manager language.

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Bretticus821 day ago

Thank you for playing the game and the feedback, Some of these are seriously really really good!

I really really like the idea of trying everything together, 
The best competing guild and the best questing guild tying into the best overall guide if done correctly could be incredible and like you said would give some other activities a better chance of the spotlight,

Renaming front is also on point to what's currently happening in the next patch but I don't think I looked at the cup naming yet

Honestly that was so good to read, Thank you!


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